Bleeding Hearts
by neuroticperoxideblonde
Summary: Bray returns and the Mallrats are forced to make some difficult decisions. takes place in seasons 4&5. Does contain Slash and Femslash.Warnings: mentions of NC.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters or concepts from the Tribe. They belong to C9 and some other people but not me. And isn't that a sad thing.

Now on to the story.

He ran through the woods relying only on the moonlights and his own memory to guide him through the thick trees. Branches scratched his arms and face, and he nearly tripped several over the roots several times. Even though he was pretty sure he had lost them, he kept running. There was no way he was going back. Finally he found the edge of the forest and the path he knew would lead to the city.

He nearly collapsed right then, but instead he merely slowed to a jogging pace. His breath was now coming out in short, harsh pants, and his lungs felt as if they were about to explode. He kept his gaze on his shoes, as if mentally willing them to move only glancing up every once in a while to make sure he was still on the right path.

Finally when he looked up, he was greeted with the sight of the city. He dragged himself through the familiar streets until he saw it. He had made it. He was finally home. Trying to get through the grille, he grimaced as he realized he had set off the alarm that had been installed, probably by the resident computer genius. Within seconds, footsteps sounded in the tunnel, and a figure was rushing towards him. He threw up his hands in a show of surrender, hoping that even though it was dark in the tunnel the other person would recognize that he didn't want to fight.

The person didn't stop, but they did slow some, and a familiar voice sounded. "What do you want?" was the harsh questioning he received.  
He knew that voice and smiled to himself before speaking up.

"Lex? It's me."

The other man froze. "Bray? But...you're dead."

I'll probably post chapter 1 later today, it's already halfway written. But right now I have to get to my Music Theory class.


	2. Beginnings of a Love Triangle

**Disclaimer: Don't own. If I did there would be a sixth and seventh season already. Ok actually, I'd just make it like this neverending show. That sounds fun to me. But I'm strange as it is. anway, on to the story,**

Lex froze. It couldn't be. There was no way this intruder was Bray, but he knew it was true. Bray was alive.

Knowing he would be humiliated about this later, but not caring at the time, he launched himself into the older man's arms. Bray was shocked but still managed to catch the teen who he had come to think of as an annoying, younger brother in their more than a little dysfunctional family.

After a few moments they separated, both kind of embarrassed .

"So where is everyone?" Bray asked barely managing to suppress a yawn as he did.

"They're asleep. You're lucky I had guard duty tonight, if one of the new people had been here, you'd have had to fight your way in."

"I almost did."

Lex laughed and started walking. "Sorry about that, but we have to be careful now. Let's go inside."

Bray nodded, and they walked inside to the café.

"What's going on? I heard the alarm go off. Lex, who's this?" a tall, blonde man questioned as they entered the room.

Lex sighed and rolled his eyes in obvious annoyance. "This is Bray."

"Bray?" Jay asked with a confused expression.

The dark-haired man smirked as he realized that Jay hadn't made the connection yet. "You know, Baby Bray's dad." Bray froze.

Jay's face clouded with disbelief and anger but before he could say anything Bray interrupted.

"Baby Bray?" he asked slowly.

"Yeah, Amber named him after you. I could go get them for you, so you can see him."

Bray stared a moment at Lex wondering why the younger man was acting so differently from how he remembered him to be. He didn't think that _all_ the niceness was caused by the fact he had been missing for almost a year. There had to be another reason, and Bray almost smacked himself when he figured it out.

"They're sleeping. Leave them alone," Jay gritted out, visibly angry with Lex.

Lex grinned and moved up the stairs towards Amber's room. "I'm sure she'd want us to wake her up for this." He hurried to get the girl leaving the other two men alone in the café.

They both sat at a table. Jay glared at what he considered his competition while Bray tried to ignore him, already seeing why Lex found it fun to aggravate this guy.

Upstairs, Lex was actually sort of polite and knocked on the door to Amber and Jay's room before entering. After a few seconds, the blonde girl opened the door and glared at him.

"What do you want?"

"I have a surprise for you in the café," he responded quickly.  
Amber stared at him for a while trying to figure out whether he could be trusted this time or not.

"Will you just get over yourself and come with me? I promise you'll actually like this surprise."

She sighed and started to follow him out, but he stopped her.

"Um…grab the kid first."

"What? Why?"

"You'll see. Just get him."

Amber did as he told her and then followed him downstairs.

When they entered the café Amber was complaining about being woken up in the middle of the night, and Lex was complaining back about how "this was the last time he ever did anything nice for anyone".

Bray smiled at this remembering how he used to have to put up with it on almost a daily basis.

"Well, here's your surprise," Lex finally said moving to the side to let Amber see Bray.

When she saw him she stared in shock for a few seconds before being so startled that she almost dropped the baby. Lex being the closest to her was forced to grab Baby Bray from her to prevent him from impacting with the ground.

"Bray? Is that really you?" she asked in a quiet voice.

"Yes, it is. It's good to see you again, Amber," he replied and stood.

While Amber rushed forwards to embrace her old love, Lex struggled to keep from dropping the squirming baby.

"A little help here," he asked holding the baby away from him for someone else to take.

Jay moved to take the child, but Amber pulled away from Bray and took him first. Holding the child out to Bray, she smiled. "I'd like you to meet your son. This is Baby Bray."

Bray took the baby and held him in his arms, overwhelmed by getting to hold his son for the first time. Amber just smiled, and the two were completely oblivious to the look Jay was sending them.

Finally, Lex decided to break the silence. "So, when should we wake the others?"

**I know. It's a slow start, but at least I finally have a plot line for this story. It's all written down in my notebook. As for where my notebook is, I have no clue. Oh, well. I'll update soon. **

**Please R&R. pretty please? Laters.**


	3. Good Night

**If you read my summary then you know this fic is going to contain slash later. (the femslash is going to be an actual pairing from the show Salene and May) Does anyone have any ideas about who the slash pairing is? and remember I like unconventional pairings** - 

The older three were torn from their thoughts, and all turned to blankly stare at him.

"What? It's a good question," he exclaimed throwing his arms up in exasperation. _Sometimes these people were so clueless._

Amber thought a moment before answering. "It depends on Bray." Turning to look at her old lover, she looked over his state. "Would you rather wait until the morning, so you can get some rest? You look exhausted," she commented taking in his ruffled and fatigued state for the first time.

"I think that'd be a good idea," He replied yawning and reluctantly handing the baby back to her.

"Then we can all catch up in the morning." The girl smiled carefully cradling the now sleeping baby.  
"Oh, I still have some of your clothes stored away in my room. Would you like them to change into?"

Bray nodded, and Amber turned to Jay. "Honey, could you grab his stuff out of our room...and…, " Jay gave her a confused look, and she remembered that he didn't know she had kept her old lover's stuff stored in the back of their closet. Then she gasped as the words "old lover" passed through her mind once again. "Oh, Bray, I'm so….I'm…He and I…We….When you,"

Bray laughed slightly at Amber's horrified expression. "Amber, it's okay. I understand. You thought I was dead and moved on. If I recall correctly, I did the same thing a few years ago."

Amber breathed a sigh of relief but still appeared to feel a little guilty. "Then um…I guess….that settles…everything."

"I'll just take one of the spare rooms," Bray offered predicting her next fear.

Amber looked nervously at Jay before turning to Lex. "Lex, could you go get Bray's stuff? You know where it is."

Lex started to protest, but she glared at him. Nodding, he ran back up the stairs to Amber's room.

Jay suddenly spoke up for the first time in a while. "There aren't any spare rooms," he said sounding more happy then sympathetic.

Amber thought for a minute. "Oh, yeah, all the rooms have been taken by now."

"That's fine. He can stay in mine until we figure everything out," Lex interrupted coming back down the stairs carrying a box of Bray's stuff.

Jay looked at him slightly angry that his plan to get Bray to leave had been destroyed once again, and Bray looked at Lex confused.

"But won't Tai-san mind?"

He watched as Lex's expression fell. "She's missing. I was hoping you might know something, since we were told you had both been 'deleted'."

"I'm sorry, Lex. I never saw her. I thought that after everything with the Guardian, she'd be back. But I'll tell you everything I know. Then maybe we could find something else out. Besides if I escaped, I'm sure she'll be able to," he tried to comfort the younger man.

Lex nodded absently, and Bray threw an arm around his shoulders, turning them towards Lex's room.

"Well, I need some sleep. I'll talk to you all in the morning."

Jay gave a curt nod, but Amber smiled back at him. "Of course. Good night," she replied sweetly and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, but seeing Jay's expression she quickly did the same to Lex so Jay wouldn't assume anything by her actions.

Leaning in closer to Lex, Amber quickly whispered to him. "Don't worry about her. Bray's right. She'll be fine."

He gave her an uneasy smile not used to having her be concerned over him.

Then she and Jay, along with baby Bray, went back upstairs to their room while Lex and Bray went to his room.

Lex collapsed tiredly onto his bed. He had been stuck guarding the mall the entire night. Next time he was going to convince Amber to make Jay do it. Thinking for a few moments how he was going to accomplish that, he barely noticed when Bray started out the doorway.

"Hey, where are you going?" he called out.

"To take a shower. Why?"

"Whatever," he closed his eyes and quickly fell into his old attitude. "Make sure you're quiet when you get back."

Bray rolled his eyes and grabbed a pair of his clothes before leaving. "Just like old times," he mumbled but smiled to himself at the same time.

**Another short and rather dull chapter, but don't worry. I actually have a plot line. I swear I do! It's right here! (holds up tattered notebook filled with barely legible writing and scribbles covering it.) It's right here. Now, to actually develop, type, and post it...wish me luck. Later.**


	4. Arguments begin

**I'm sorry for the long delay, but my schedule's been so crazy lately. However, I just finished exam week, and I'm now on Christmas break! Yay! **

**I swear that this has been the most difficult story I've ever tried to write. Maybe it's because I actually wrote out an entire plot line first before just jumping into my writing like I normally do.**

**Oh, and because I figured out that if I went with the actual timeline that one of my main characters would be dead (not just missing) I decided it's going to be AU. Which helps my plotline a lot. **

The next morning, Lex woke to the sound of very loud, girly shrieking. Looking around the room, he noticed that Bray had already woken up, so he guessed that meant that the earsplitting shrills were coming from Trudy and Salene's having noticed his presence.

After deciding to ignore the noise and get some more sleep while he could, Lex was disappointed to hear Jay's rather furious sounding voice. Suddenly feeling an immense amount of empathy for what Ryan must have had to go through when the sheriff himself and Bray had fought at first…and until his disappearance, Lex dragged himself out of bed heading towards the kitchen where he was going to try to prevent World War V.

When he reached the kitchen, he was surprised to find that Pride was already holding back Jay who was shouting things at Bray, while the other man stood there calmly even with the black eye he was now sporting.

"What's going on?" Lex asked. He glanced over to where the girls and Sammy were seated. Trudy and Salene looked upset, Amber's emotions were torn between anger or sadness, and Sammy and Gel just looked confused.

Finally, it was Sammy who answered. "I'm not entirely sure, but Bray said something that upset Jay, and Jay punched him."

Lex rolled his eyes. "I kinda figured out that much myself."

Jay, who had pulled out of Pride's grasp, now stood on the other side of the room from the others.

"This guy," he began pointing in Bray's direction "needs to leave the mall."

"Why? He hasn't done anything. Besides we need more guys around here," Gel commented ignoring Sammy's obvious exasperation.

"We can't trust him!. You guys told me he's been missing for years. How do we know he's not working for Mega?" Jay continued.

"Because he's Bray. He would never do something like that." Salene immediately came to the defense of their old friend.

"She's right. Bray's not the kind of person who would do something like that," Trudy replied.

Jay groaned loudly. "Isn't anyone even going to consider that he could be a Technoe?!"

Lex smirked. "You mean, kinda like you were?"

"Shut it, Lex! That's it! I'm not putting up with this!" Jay stormed out of the café, and after casting the group an apologetic glance, Amber ran after him.

The room suddenly felt less tense and much more quiet as everyone began grabbing some breakfast and taking a seat at one of the tables. Salene wet a rag in cold water for Bray to hold against his eye before she went back to fixing the rest of the tribe's breakfasts. For awhile everyone ate in relative silence until Pride spoke up.

"I know this isn't the best time, but I have something I need to tell all of you."

**Yes, the main pairing will be Bray/Lex. cause they're my absolute favorite slash couple, except maybe for Slade/Lex. (hehe...ooohhh an idea for a new story with a threesome just popped into my mind...oh, well, that will have to wait until this is finished)**


End file.
